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Frances Tomsett (c1785-1853)
}} Fanny Gutsell - convict on the Northampton in 1815 Frances' marriage & children born in England At the age of about 16 years, Frances Tomsett married 18 year old John Gutsell on 20 November 1802 in Frant, Sussex. Marriages at such a young age were uncommon in England at the time, but not unknown. Parents' permission was required for all those who had not yet attained the age of 21. Frances & John Gutsell's first 2 children were born at Frant and named after John's parents, Richard Gutsell & Elizabeth Gould. There was Richard who was baptised on 19 Feb 1804 and Elizabeth who was baptised on 9 Mar 1806. Sometime before their daughter Sophia was born in 1811 they moved to the Brede/Westfield area where the rest of John's family was living. Sophia was baptised at Westfield on 12 April 1811. It appears that little Richard, Elizabeth & Sophia did not survive. The arrest & conviction of Frances & her husband Before 1814 John, and his wife Frances, had moved back to the area around Frant where they had married. In early 1814, when John was 29 years old and Francis was about 27, the couple were arrested. They were taken to Horsham and charged with breaking, entering & stealing, Frances (using her pet-name of Fanny) with 3 counts, and John with 2. The first offence for which they were both charged was that on 1 September 1813, in the parish of Mayfield (10 kilometres, 6 miles, from Frant), they had stolen goods valued at 12s 6d (12 shillings & 6 pence), the property of Samuel Saunders. The second offence for which they were both charged was that on 28 September 1813, in the same parish, they had stolen goods valued at 16s, the property of John Garner. The third and final offence, for which Frances alone was charged, was that on 1 October 1813, in the nearby parish of Rotherfield, she had stolen goods described as being a tea caddy and an ounce of tea, 3 penny weight of cheese and 1 penny weight of butter, to a total value of 9s 6d, the property of Robert Payne. John and Frances were detained in custody pending their trial, and their charges were to be held concurrently at Horsham, Sussex, on 21 March 1814. John, however, managed to escape from gaol, and Frances faced the Court alone. Frances was acquitted on the first charge, but found guilty of the other two robberies. She received a sentence of transportation for 7 years. After Frances' case on in Horsham, Sussex, on 21 March 1814, John Gutsell's case was heard in his absence. A sentence of death by hanging was handed down. A warrant for his apprehension was issued to the Sherriff of Sussex. Written at the bottom of the warrant was the name Gould. This is the first documentary evidence of John Gutsell using his mother's maiden surname as an alias. The warrant for John Gutsell's arrest had been issued in Sussex, but he had escaped into the next county of Kent where he was not known. While there he was arrested for a new offence. As an escaped felon he could not let it be known who he really was. Using the alias of his mother's maiden surname, on 11 July 1814 he appeared before the Court at Canterbury, Kent, was convicted, and received a sentence of transportaion for 7 years. By assuming his mother's maiden surname he had managed to escape the hangman's noose. While John Gutsell sat in gaol in Kent awaiting his transportation, his wife Frances sat in gaol in Sussex awaiting hers. Frances' ship, the Northampton, sailed from Portsmouth on 1 January 1815, while John's ship did not depart until nearly 8 months later on 25 August 1815. The ship on which John sailed was, coincidentally, named the Fanny, the same as the pet-name for his wife. ' ' (Gold was an alternative spelling of his mother's maiden surname of Gould.) Who were the people aboard the Northampton in 1815? After a 5½ month voyage the 29-year-old Frances, the convict Fanny Gutsell, arrived in Sydney on 18 June 1815 aboard the Northampton. When the Northampton arrived in Sydney with Frances aboard, it carried a “cargo” of women convicts, 28 of whom were under the age of 21 (25% or 1 in 4) the age at which youth were legally regarded to be adults. The youngest convict, Mary Langridge, was only 12 years old. 110 convicts and their children had embarked, but there were 4 convict deaths at sea. 106 convict women, and their 21 children who "came free", were landed at Port Jackson (Sydney). Frances had no children with her which suggests that any children she had in Sussex prior to the sailing of the Northampton on 1 January 1815 had not survived. Of the 110 convict women who had embarked on the Northampton, there was only Frances whose husband was to be transported at a later date. She had been convicted of the same crimes as her husband, but due to the unique circumstances of his escape from custudy & then sentencing for another offence whilst using an alias, he was not being sent to the Colony for the crimes that he had committed with his wife, but for another subsequent crime. Also on board the Northampton were 6 convict women who already had convict husbands in the Colony, 5 of whom had been transported earlier in 1815, and 1 who had been transported in 1810. Of the 5 convict men transported in 1815 it is known that 3 were convicted in the same crime as their wives, and it is likely that the other 2 were also. The husbands were sent out as part of a male convict transport, while their wives were sent out on the Northampton, a female convict transport. One of these cases in particular is even more intersting in that convicted of the same crime were a family of farmers from Reading, Berkshire: a husband, his wife, their son, and 2 of their daughters. The wife who died at sea during the voyage, Sarah Sherwell/Shurwell/Sheerwell, about 50 years of age, and her 2 daughters were being transported on the Northampton. On the voyage with them as a passenger was another daughter who had not been involved in the crime, Mary, with her baby daughter, 11 months old in June 1815. In addition to her "cargo" of convict women and their children the Northampton also carried passengers to New South Wales who, because they were not convicts, are described in the musters of New South Wales as “came free”. Among these passengers were: 1. 25 women (& their 47 children) coming to join their convict husbands who were already in Australia. One of these women, her 2 children, and 4 other children of these women died during the voyage out. 2. One husband of a convict on board the ship. Blake accompanied his convict wife, Susannah Blake, and their 3 year old child Diana. 3. One single woman, and her baby daughter, accompanying her convict mother & sisters. Sherwell accompanied her convict mother Sarah, and her convict sisters Elizabeth & Sarah. 4. One single woman coming to join a convict parent already in Australia. [James Wheeler (53-years-old in 1815) had arrived as a convict aboard the Earl Spencer in 1813. His wife Esther “came free” to join him aboard the General Hewitt in 1814. Aboard the Northampton was their daughter 33-year-old daughter Esther Wheeler (shown in the ship’s record as Sarah) who “came free” to join her parents.] 5. Two single female immigrants. Bradbury who immigrated at the age of 18, and married Denis Shields in 1817. Also Esther (shown in the ships records as Mary) Shimmel who either married or co-habited with German Buxton after he arrived in the Colony in 1818. 6. One single male immigrant White. 7. One family of immigrants. Greentree, his wife Jane, and their children. 8. One woman & her children who immigrated without her husband. [Jane Lees’ husband William came free the next year on the Mary Ann in 1816. This is likely to be a case where William had intended to immigrate with his family but was detained in England unable to join his family until later.] Captured by pirates & lovers' quarrels Sydney Gazette, Saturday 24 June 1815: "SHIP NEWS.-The ship 'Northampton', Captain Tween, arrived from England on Sunday with 106 female prisoners, having lost 4 of her original complement during the voyage; namely, Eliz. Cowan, and Ann Turner, at Rio; the latter of whom fell overboard and was drowned, Susan Frost died at sea after leaving Rio; and Mrs. Shirwell died a fortnight before the vessel's arrival at this Port. Mrs. Dedman, a free passenger, and her two children, were buried at Rio; Mrs. Noble lost one child, Mrs Drake two, and Mrs Higgins one. The prisoners were landed yesterday morning, and appear all to be very healthy, and well satisfied at their usage during the passage. A number of free women have also arrived, some of whom have families, to join their husbands." The Northampton ''departed Portsmouth on 1 January 1815. John A. Tween was the Master (Captain) of the ship. Joseph Arnold was the Surgeon Superintendant: this voyage of the Northampton is the first of those to have a naval surgeon regularly appointed to care for the convicts after the disastrous losses aboard the ''Surry and General Hewitt in 1814. The voyage to Port Jackson of 1815 was the only time that the Northampton was chartered as a convict ship. Built in 1801 on the Thames River, the ship's weight was 561 tons and it carried 14 guns. The Northampton carried, along with its passengers and its cargo of convict women and their children: 1. a mail delivery (Sydney Gazette 24 June 1815), and 2. goods being imported for the stores of Mr Nichols, "Ironmongery an ample assortment, ribbands and silks, plans and charts, books of science, taste, and general utility, toys, boots and shoes, oils and colours, stationary, coach springs, &c jewellery, confectionary, grocery, a water closer, corks, hats and bonnets, sadlery, mercery, glass and earthen ware, butter and cheese, cutlery, Port wine, tobacco, &e. &e.", items which Mr Nichols expressed a desire to sell "on the most reasonable terms" (Sydney Gazette 24 June 1815). Jackson's Oxford Journal ''reported that on 18 February 1815 the ''Northampton had been captured off the island of Madeira by an American Privateer (Pirate ship) but afterwards liberated, the enemy not liking the cargo, and suffered her to proceed on her voyage. The ship then continued on its scheduled journey to Port Jackson via Rio de Janeiro. The ship landed at Rio on 26 February and took on a supply of fresh water. The ship was delayed in Rio for 20 days due to deaths on board. Buried in Rio were one of the women passengers and her 2 children. Two of the convict women also died in Rio, 1 from falling overboard and drowning. On 15 March, the day before the ship sailed from Rio, there was noticed another American Privateer (Pirate ship) of 22 guns. The ship's surgeon Dr. Joseph Arnold recorded in his journal that "we were fearful of going out". On 16 May when they were sailing in the middle of the ocean, in the waters where the Indian Ocean joins the Southern Ocean, they sailed within about 16 kilometres (10 miles) south of a small island that the ship's surgeon called "the Isle of Amsterdam". From the co-ordinants that he gave this small island is just over 1300 kilometres (810 miles) North-East of the islands of The French Southern & Antartic Islands which are close to 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Heard & McDonald Islands. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, having just sailing past the Isle of Amsterdam, they noticed a strange sail "lying too off the Island, which soon came in chase of us". By dark the chasing ship appeared to have gained on them considerably. The Northampton changed its course "and made all sail possible to escape from her" (the chasing ship). The ship's surgeon wrote: "It is needless to conjecture what she may be, our fears made her American, but some think her a whaler or a botany bay ship going with convicts that have turned in at that Island for water." One final drama that occurred during the voyage was that on 6 April one of the convict women, Catherine Inglis from Glasgow, Scotland, had attempted suicide by taking an overdose. She was a handsome woman who the captain of the ship, John Tween, had taken into his cabin "as soon as he saw her". He clothed her "very unwisely in a ladylike fashion" and gave her the services of another convict woman to be her servant and attend to her needs. After a quarrel with the Captain on the night of Wednesday, 5 April, she tried "to destroy herself". After sailing through the Bass Strait and then continuing up the East Coast of Australia, the Northampton sailed into Port Jackson on 18 June 1815 – five and a half months after leaving England. The convicts were landed 5 days later on 23 June 1815 in a healthy state. When the Northampton later sailed from Port Jackson it had obtained a cargo of 46 ton of Fijian sandalwood wrapped in seal skins obtained by sealers in the southern Australian waters. Sandalwood and seal skins could be traded in China for tea as a return cargo for Britain. More about Frances Tomsett Frances had a pet-name which was Fanny which was used for her arrest, conviction, and transportation to New South Wales. She did not always continue to use her pet-name, however. In the 1822 muster & 1828 census of New South Wales she is shown not as Fanny Gutsell but as Frances Gutsell. It is also the name given for their mother on the birth records for her daughters Frances, Charlotte & Mary, and on the death records for Charlotte & Mary. On the birth records of Frances' daughters Frances, Charlotte, & Mary, and on the death records of Charlotte & Mary, it is stated that their father's name was John Gutsell. This means that Frances was a married woman when she was transported to Sydney, Australia, in 1815 at the age of 26. It also means that her husband joined her in New South Wales. After Frances arrived in New South Wales she gave birth to 5 daughters: Frances on 11 January 1817, Jane in June 1818, Charlotte on 5 May 1819, Lucy in about 1820, and Mary on 17 March 1822. The reason that the exact date of birth is known for only 3 of these daughters is that birth records only exist for Frances, Charlotte & Mary. These birth records record that the girls are the daughters of John & Frances Gutsell. John Gutsell then has to have arrived in New South Wales at least 9 months before Frances was born in January 1817. How do we know that John Gold/Gould of the Fanny is John Gutsell, the husband of Frances? 1. Some have conjectured that perhaps John Gutsell accompanied Frances on the Northampton in 1815, just as William Blake had accompanied his convict wife. Contemporaneous records, however, exist stating that William Blake accompanied his wife, and no such records exist for John Gutsell. For example William Blake is mentioned on the list of male passengers that was prepared by the ship's surgeon, Dr. Joseph Arnold, and sent to Governor Macquarie on 18 June 1815 the day that the Northampton had anchored at Port Jackson. The list does not contain the name of John Gutsell. 2. Others have instead conjectured that Frances' husband is the convict John Gutsell listed in the 1822 muster of New South Wales. This, however, is an impossibility as it is recorded in the 1822 muster that this John Gutsell arrived on the Eliza which arrived in Sydney in mid-1820, far too late for this man to be the father of Frances, Jane, Charlotte, or Lucy. This record is not incorrect as it also states that he is still a convict, still sevring his 7 year sentence. If he had been Frances' husband, and had instead arrived in New South Wales on an earlier ship, he would have completed serving his sentence before the 1822 muster, and have been recorded as "F by S", or free by having served his sentence. 1822 muster The clue to the time of Frances' husband's arrival to the Colony of New South Wales is contained in the November 1828 census. It this census Frances is shown with her children and a man by the name of John Gould who had arrived aboard the Fanny on 18 January 1816. Frances is shown as "Frances Gould or Gutsell". Her daughters Frances, Charlotte and Mary are shown with the surname of Gould, not Gutsell the surname that had been recorded in their birth records. John Gould is then an alias for Frances' husband John Gutsell. John Gutsell, or John Gould, had commited his crime in Canterbury, Kent. Kent is the county immediately to the right of Sussex, and it was common for people to travel between the counties of Sussex and Kent. He had been been convicted to 7 years transportation in the Kent Assizes at Maidstone, Kent on 11 July 1814, less than 4 months after Frances' trial at Lewes, Sussex, and prior to her transportation to New South Wales aboard the Northampton. This then explains why he had been unable to request accompanying Frances to New South Wales aboard the Northampton as he had been in gaol in Kent awaiting his own transportation which did not begin until 25 August 1815 on a ship ironically named the Fanny. After John Gutsell's arrest and trial in July 1814 he may have had no safe way to get word to Frances at that time still in gaol in Lewes. While Frances was sailing to New South Wales, therefore, she may not have known that her husband would soon be joining her. John Gould (Gutsell) arrived in Port Jackson on 18 January 1816, and their daughter Frances was born just under 12 months later. In the 1822 & 1825 musters Frances is not recorded as "wife of", a typical notation for a married woman, or a woman co-habitating with a man. This type of notation, however, did not mean that Frances & John Gould (Gutsell) were not residing together. Another common notation for used for women, or even men, who were living in a domestic arrangement was "Housekeeper". In the 1822 & 1825 musters couples who had different surnames were also not recorded together. For the 1822 & 1825 musters, unlike for the birth records of their children when they both used the surname of Gutsell, John was using his alias surname of Gould, the surname under which he had been convicted and transported, and Frances was using the surname of Gutsell. November 1828 census FS = free by having served time BC = born in colony Ind = independent of government stores Gustel is not a transposition of letters but the spelling used in the 1828 census document. 1825 muster 1822 muster Note: The Northampton arrived in 1815 and the Fanny ''arrived in 1816. Further evidence of the alias of Gould being used by John Gutsell is found in the 1840 marriage record for Frances' daughter Frances. The marriage record states that the marriage was between Richard Palmer & Frances Gold. Gold was the alternative spelling for Gould, and was the spelling used for the alias of John Gutsell for his transportation to New South Wales aboard the ''Fanny. Frances' children born in New South Wales Frances' children born in New South Wales are known from the New South Wales Musters and other records. Her daughter Jane was buried as a 6 month old infant in the Sydney burial ground in 1818 and a death record exists. Birth and death records exist for her daughters Frances, Charlotte & Mary. In the 1822 muster Frances had with her Frances 5, Charlotte 3 and Lucy 2. By the 1825 muster Lucy has died and she had with her Frances 8, Charlotte 6 and Mary 3. Frances' birth & death Frances died on 11 April 1853 at the home that she shared with her husband John Gutsell in (Old) South Head Road, Sydney. In her death record her husband John Gutsell recorded her age as 65, equating to a year of birth of about 1787-1788. In the November 1828 census, however, the census taker was informed by either John or herself that her age was 43, equating to a year of birth of about 1785. In the Funeral Notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of monday 12 April 1853 it stated "The friends of Mr. Gutsell are respectfully requested to attend the Funeral of his deceased wife Frances. The procession will move from his residence, South Head Road, this afternoon, at 3 o'clock precisely." Frances' husband John Gutsell died just less than 6 months later in September 1853. Many years before this he had left his convict past far behind, and had ceased using the alias of Gould.